Edison and Ford Winter Estates: Neighbors on the River

In 1925, Harvey Firestone handed Thomas Edison a four-foot banyan sapling. A century later that single tree shades more than an acre of Fort Myers, and it is thought to be the largest banyan in the United States.

A Friendship on the Caloosahatchee

Edison first visited Fort Myers in 1885 and built a winter home he called Seminole Lodge on the river. Decades later his friend Henry Ford bought the bungalow next door, known as The Mangoes, in 1916. The two inventors, often joined by tire magnate Harvey Firestone, spent winters here tinkering, fishing, and camping together. Edison was in his seventies and eighties during many of these visits and still worked nearly every day. The neighboring estates sit along McGregor Boulevard, a road famous for the royal palms Edison helped introduce.

The Lab That Chased Rubber

In 1927, Edison, Ford, and Firestone each put in $25,000 to launch the Edison Botanic Research Corporation. Their goal was a homegrown source of rubber in case war ever cut off imports. Edison tested thousands of plants and found his answer in goldenrod, breeding a variety that grew twelve feet tall. The 1928 laboratory still stands on the property, its beakers and equipment preserved much as he left them. It was one of the last great projects of his life.

What to Know Before You Go

The estates sit at 2350 McGregor Boulevard and are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with last admission at 4:30. You can walk through both winter homes, the research lab, a 15,000-square-foot museum of Edison inventions, and more than 20 acres of gardens holding over 1,700 plant species. Parking is free. Give yourself at least two hours, and start early in summer to beat the heat and the afternoon storms. The giant banyan alone is worth the trip.